Old Blue Jeans
by adropletofjupiter
Summary: This fic is set post season six. Joey and pacey are living in new york city, aged twenty three and engaged to be married. in this story their past, present and future collide. R
1. Chapter 1

**Old Blue Jeans  
Part One  
In the Beginning**

"So? What did you think?"

"Of what?"

"Of the house"

"Oh was that a **house**?" Joey Potter asked looking back at the building she had just been viewing, "I thought it was a scrap yard?"

"Okay, I admit it needs a **_little_** work,"

"A **_little_** work?" she chuckled, pointing to it, "a _little_ work is a coat of paint here and the odd restoration there… that thing needs a whole new kitchen and a new bathroom… oh yeah and you know what else would be nice? A **roof**!"

"It has a roof," Pacey argued.

"Really? So you're _meant_ to see the sky when you look up from the _inside_?" she asked sarcastically as she walked towards the car.

"Okay so maybe that's a slight problem," he admitted. "But the rooms are a great size and there's plenty of room for that pool that you always wanted out back."

"Pacey," Joey groaned, walking up to him, "We need a house."

"I know we need a house."

"A nice house," she moaned, putting her arms around his waist and placing her head on his chest and looking up to him. "We need a house that we can live in without having to put up an umbrella every time it rains."

"I know a guy…"

"You _always_ know a guy," she moaned, banging her head on his chest, "Maybe one day you can aspire to find a guy who actually turns up to finish the job."

"That was one time!"

"Really?" she asked him, pulling away from him and putting her hands on her hips, "Would you like to tell me when 'one time' became 'every single time'?"

"It was once!" he argued.

"Which 'once' are you referring to **darling**?" She asked sweetly, crossing her arms.

"Well **honey,**" he mocked "the time that I asked Leo's brother-in-law to come and fix the tv."

"What about the time you knew someone who knew someone who had a friend who could do your brothers guttering?"

"Oh yeah," Pacey moaned, "I forgot about that time,"

"And there was the kitchen guy, the plumber, the electrician, the carpenter, the…"

"**okay**!" he said, cutting her off, "I get your point."

"Good," she smiled, leaning into him and placing a kiss on his lips.

"So that's a no?"

"It's a no way in hell Pace."

"Why don't we just wait a while," he suggested, "y'know just keep our eye on the market and if we see a deal we just jump on it."

"Pacey, we're getting married in three weeks… MARRIED… and we're still living with your brother and his gay life partner."

"You like jack," he told her.

"Yeah, I do. I like jack, you like jack… I just wish your brother wouldn't like jack so much on the couch we have to sit on."

"One time!"

"Yes but that's only because I yell 'and I'm coming into the house now!' every time I walk in the front door."

"I'll find us somewhere," he promised, "I'll look at the budget again."

"Maybe we could just go for a small house, just two bedrooms, a bathroom and a kitchen-diner kind of deal."

"But you know I want our dream house for you," he told her, pulling her towards her again, "I promised you that."

"Well my dream house has a roof," she reminded him, "Apartments have roofs."

"Yeah but with apartments come neighbours and we always said that we wanted to live without the burden of ANOTHER guy who breaks down our door because he's too drunk to realise that 106 and 109 are different door numbers, or even contemplate that the reason his key doesn't fit is because he doesn't live there!"

"That was the city," she told him, "This is different."

"Do you really want our kids to grow up in an apartment? I thought that was the reason we moved out of the city. When we have kids we want them to have a good place for them to grow up, an apartment isn't ideal. Don't you remember Mrs. Stacker in the apartment above us with the new-born triplets? That's the reason we moved Jo, it was just too noisy."

"We don't have to live there forever."

"But we would have to live there and in reality we would end up there longer than we want."

"And is that so bad?"

"I want my kids to have a better life than what I had and a better life isn't an apartment; it's a house, with a yard for them to play in," he told her, holding her closely. "I'll go and crunch some more numbers, then I'll call the agent and see what I can do."

"Just don't stretch us too much pace… Nothing is worth getting over our head for."

"I know," he nodded, opening the door to the car, "I can free up some funds y'know… sell some stocks."

"Our retirement fund?" she asked, shaking her head, "No way, we agreed we weren't touching that whilst the stock was good,"

"We don't need to sell it all," he told her, "we just sell a little for some extra capitol. We can sell 10 of the stepotech and get enough to add an extra 70k top our overall budget."

"We can't do that."

"I'm our stockbroker and I say we can."

"But that's our retirement fund."

"Well it just got upgraded to setting-up-home fund," Pacey said, helping her into the car and jumping in the other side. He started the engine, turning to Joey when she placed her hand on his arm.

"I don't need a roof THAT much pace."

"I'll get you a roof," he promised, "And if you're lucky I'll get you walls too."

It had been three months of house-hunting hell. A four bedroom house with two reception rooms, large garden and a family kitchen was hard to come by for such a tight budget. Pacey and Joey weren't the poorest of couples but when it came to setting up home Pacey Witter was a stickler for perfection. He had promised her the world and he didn't intend on giving her anything less, no matter what it cost.


	2. Chapter 2

"Morning Pace!" Jack called as he entered the kitchen, sitting down at the bench and pouring himself a cup of coffee." shouldn't you be at work by now?"

"I'm not going in today," he told him happily.

"Why?" Jack questioned suspiciously. "You didn't get fired did you because Joey would kill you."

"Nope," he smiled. "I have an appointment,"

"An appointment?"

"Yes. At the bank. I have found us a house; a perfect house,"

"One with a roof?" he mocked, flinching when Pacey punched his arm with his fist.

"Yes one with a roof, and windows and even walls,"

"Amazing,"

"All I had to do was beg, borrow and… almost… steal,"

"Almost?" Jack enquired, looking over the rim of his cup at him. "Define almost,"

"This is New York Jack; the possibilities for acquiring money are endless,"

"What are we talking about? Prostitution? Gambling? Did you try to sell a kidney on eBay again?"

"No. But I did kind of get the sellers price down by implying that maybe I was a little poorer than I said and I now have four make-believe children," Pacey told him as he put on his jacket. Jack shot him a look, somewhere between intrigued and disgusted. "It's all the back-story; it's what I do every day. I have a product and I just have to find the most appropriate way of selling it,"

"You're the buyer,"

"No. I'm selling myself,"

"Like prostitution,"

"No," Pacey old him, sitting down beside him. "Look, the sooner we get a house the sooner we'll be out of your hair,"

"I wonder what that's like," Jack sighed. "To have our house to our self after six months,""It'll be great. There is no reason for us to be living here now; we have plenty money and we can afford a mortgage payment. All we need is the house,"

"Just make sure you run your plans over with Joey first, you know what she's like,"

"What?" Pacey asked. "Reasonable?"

"Ha!" Jack chuckled. "And precisely which Joey Potter are you thinking of?"

"Hey!" Jen exclaimed as she approached her friend in the restaurant at lunchtime. "I didn't expect to see you here; I thought you were going to be late,"

"I was," Joey explaindd, reaching into the pushchair and pulling out her goddaughter, Amy, sitting her on her knee. "I sneaked out; the crap I edit will still be crap when I get back,"

"Good thinking!"

"She's getting so big," Joey said in disbelief as she bobbed Amy on her lap. "How is she getting so big?"

"She's seven months Joey," Jen smiled, removing Amy's pink hat. "They tend to grow,"

"She's so cute. Can I have her?"

"Saturday night you can if you want,"

"You're going out?" Joey asked, placing Amy back in the chair. "You?"

"Yes,"

"But you never go out; you haven't been out since Amy was born,"

"I know. But this really cute guy from work asked me out when I took Amy in for a visit,"

"And he knows that you have a seven month old child which takes up all of your free time?"

"Yes," she smiled, taking a sip of her water. "But I do need a date for the wedding of the year,"

"Oh yes," Joey sighed. "That,"

"You're not having second thoughts are you because I already bought my hat,"

"Of course not. It's just the house,"

"Ahh," Her friend sighed knowingly. "Or the lack of house,"

"I mean we're not poor Jen, but Pacey insists that we have this perfect house. I would be happy with a small house but he's not having it. He's got his eye on all these houses; four bedrooms plus with swimming pools and summer houses,"

"And what's wrong with that?"

"Nothing! Nothings wrong with that… but we can't afford it. I mean we CAN afford it, if we want to be crippled by the mortgage payments for the next thirty-five years. I mean what kind of stupid person takes on a debt at twenty three that they won't be free of until they're fifty-eight?"

"Any twenty-three year old that wants to buy a house unfortunately,"

"What if we get divorced?"

"If you think you'll get divorced then why are you getting married?"

"I'm not expecting us to… but unexpected things happen. I mean you didn't expect to have a baby at twenty-two and I'm sure my mom thought she would see her kids through junior-high,"

"That's true," Jen told her, leaning acrnss the table and taking her hand. "But what kind of life would you live if you thought about what could go wrong all the time?"

"A good life," she told her. "a stress free life without any nasty surprises,"  
"But do you really want to rule out surprises; I mean Amy was a surprise," Jen said as she gazed at Amy in the pushchair. "But a really great one,"

Pacey stepped out the elevator and wandered through Joey's office with a smile on his face and a leather folder in his hand.

"Have you seen my wife-to-be?" He asked the girl at the water-cooler who promptly directed him in the right direction. He walked over to her desk and spun her chair around suddenly, crouching down to his knees. "Hello my darling,"

"Hello intruder who got in the building somehow without a security pass,"

"Oh the guy on the front desk let me in," he told her. "Nice guy that Bernard,"

"Yeah he's a hoot," she sighed, turning back to her desk. "What are you doing here, don't you have some clients to rip off or something," she joked, looking over her shoulder at him with a cheeky grin.

"I came to take you home. Early. With the clearance of your boss and via a lovely little building they call 'rose-hedge house'"

"I can't just leave early Pacey I have work to do," she told him, pointing at her desk. "Crap novels don't edit themselves y'know,"

"I know, I know, the life of a junior exec is busy. Busy, busy, busy… but your boss is very interested in stock tips and so I scored you an early finish," he told her, picking up her coat and removing her glasses from her face, placing them into her purse. "So c'mon,"

"What's got into you?" She chuckled, gathering her papers and putting them into her briefcase. "What are you up to?"

"You'll just have to follow me and see,"

Pacey drove out of the city until he reached Westchester, it wasn't strictly upstate but it was far away enough to be out of the city. He watched Joey carefully as she gazed out of the window and then back to him.

"We're in Westchester." she told him, tucking a stray stand of hair behind her ear.

"Well done, you can read."

"We can't afford Westchester."

"Yes we can," he assured her, "I crunched some more numbers and came to my senses. Are you aware just how much money we have in our savings?"

"No, I don't look at our savings, that's your job."

"Exactly. Now being in a position to know exactly how much we have in our savings and how much of our money I can release from our share portfolio I happen to know just how much of a deposit we can put down."

"Well if we had more money than we thought why did we not use it before?"

"Strictly it's un-releasable, however nothing is impossible."

"Does this place have a roof?" she asked, looking over at him as he took a turning, "I mean one that we can look at rather than look through."

"I keep telling you that I thought that was a great investment opportunity; a place that we could have crafted into our very own paradise, but if a roof is what you want then a roof is what you will get my darling."

"I'm always suspicious when you call me my darling."

"Well don't be," he reassured her, pulling the car into a gravel driveway and removing the keys from the ignition, "I can promise you that this place will not disappoint you."

"This is it?" she asked, getting out of the car and Joining Pacey in the path, "This thing is the house?"

"Yes," he smiled, taking her hand, "It's great isn't it.

"No way," Joey said, turning away from him and walking towards the door, "I am not going in that house."

"Why?"

"It's beautiful."

"So?" he chuckled, turning her around to look at the house.

"So. It's beautiful and I will love it even more on the inside than I do on the outside."

"And that's a bad thing?"

"Yes. Because we cannot afford this."

"I had a word with the agent and he has promised me that we can knock this price right down. The owner is desperate for a quick sale and there are a few problems in the summerhouse that need attending to. We can knock the price of this baby right down."

"No," she said slowly, "read my lips sweetheart… No."

"Come on," Pacey begged, taking her hands and turning her towards the garden, full of colourful flowers and rose-filled hedges, "look at how pretty the garden is. We can dig some of this out and put a patio in with a swing and spend all our evenings out here with a bottle of wine. Wouldn't you like that?"

"We can't afford it," she told him, holding his hands as he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close to him. "Its beautiful, but we can't afford this place."

"Please just look at it Jo?" he asked, pointing up at the main building that stood two stories tall, with attic windows. The white building was covered in climbing ivy with old sash windows and cream drapes could be seen through the dusty windows. The windows weren't perfect; grimy with the odd broken pane, it required restoration but it was perfect. "I mean imagine what we could do with it?"

"We can't afford it," she said slowly, hoping that it would sink in.

"Come on," he begged.

Taking her hand, he took her around the house. They walked through the living room and the dining room, before arriving in the kitchen; it was a good size, at least big enough to get six people around the table and another two in the kitchen.

"Look Joey, Think of all the stuff we could do in here?"

"We can't afford it," she told him slowly, "Give it up Pace, we just can't afford it."

"Yes we can Joey."

"How could we be able to afford this place pace?"

"Easily," he reassured her holding her against him, "It's perfect."

"I know Pacey. It is perfect; it's everything I always wanted but it's just too expensive!"

"Well I don't think it is, and the bank don't seem to think it is either."

"What?" She asked, crossing her arms across her chest.

"The bank seemed to think it was well within our budget, if we put down twenty-five percent and opt for a thirty-five year mortgage with a lump sum at the end."

"Pacey!" Joey shouted, stopping him in his tracks, "I can't believe you talked to the bank without me."

"I didn't want you to be disappointed."

"So what else did you do without me?" she asked.

"I Bluffinadoper," he mumbled and Joeys eves shot up, glaring through him.

"You what?" she asked angrily, walking closer to him as he walked backwards towards the wall. "Tell me you did not just say what I think you said."

"I put in an offer, okay!" he responded, closing his mouth immediately after he had said it.

"You put in an offer on a house without me?" she questioned, placing her hand on her forehead and pacing around the room. "How much for?"

"The house was on for nine-hundred…"

"Nine!" she yelled. "Nine? Nine hundred thousand dollars!"

"Yes-- but I brought him right down."

"Down to what"? She probed. "Was it six fifty Pacey? Because we agreed that six fifty was all we could afford."

"Down to eight-twenty-nine."

"Eight-thirty!"

"Well not eight-thirty… eight-twenty-nine," he corrected her.

"Well you can just go and withdraw the offer Pacey because there is no way in hell we can afford eight-thirty."

"Eight-twenty-nine."

"Eight-thirty, eight-twenty-nine, what's the difference!"

"A thousand?" he offered coyly, following her as she walked away from him quickly. "Oh come on Joey, it's perfect!"

"Then you live in it," she told him, opening the door to the car and getting in. "Get yourself home too because I can't stand to be in this car with you right now."

"It's my car!"

"Yeah," Joey sighed, pausing a moment before getting out the car and walking over to him, handing him the keys. "Your car, your house, your life… but where do I fit in?"

"What kind of stupid-ass question is that?"

"An **important** one," she told him, walking closer to him. "You need to ask yourself just how much I fit into your life, because right now I can't see you living in a partnership!"

"What are you saying?"

"Maybe you're not ready to get married,"

"I am," he reassured her, taking her by her shoulders and looking into her eyes. "I absolutely am,"

"You always said I knew you better than you knew yourself Pace...and I don't think you're ready to grow up yet,"

"Are you saying you don't want to get married because of this?"

"No. I'm saying that maybe you need to think about what being part of a partnership means,"


	3. Chapter 3

Pacey walked through the front door later that night, throwing his coat over the chair and sighing heavily, holding a bag of Chinese food on his lap. He had spent the last three hours since leaving her in the bar down the street, trying to figure out a game plan, but so far he had come up with nothing; no great ideas, no solutions… nothing. All that he had come up with was Chinese food from her favourite Chinese restaurant and that was hardly going to fix their problems.

"Is she still mad?" He asked Doug and Jack as they sat watching television drinking beer.

"Oh yeah," Jack sighed. "She's mad, it's your fault and I'm suffering just because I have the same kind of fishing tackle,"

"Sorry man,"

"Hey that's okay just fix it before tomorrow night because she's meant to cook and I really don't want her to spit in it again,"

"Here," Doug said, standing up and walking over to him, giving him a beer. "You'll need this,"

"Why?"

"She locked herself in the bedroom when she came in; she came down for a drink about twenty minutes ago muttering something about immature men then went back up and slammed the door. So I think you're going to need this beer and a gigantic bucket of expensive jewellery,"

"Is she really that mad?" Pacey asked coyly, slumping down in the chair and leaning into it, holding the beer to his forehead and closing his eyes.

"Yeah," Doug sighed, sitting on the arm of the chair. "She came in with the words 'I really hope your wedding gifts are returnable,' so I'd say she's still mad,"

"Shit," he muttered taking a long drink of his beer and groaning heavily before heading up the stairs and looking at the bedroom door. He stood there for a few moments, contemplating his words. He raised his hand to the door and retreated quickly, sighing heavily and downing the rest of the liquid from the bottle.

He turned around, contemplating just leaving her alone before taking a deep breath and knocking on the door. "Can I come in?" he asked softly, listening against the door for a sign.

"Do what you want," the voice came from inside the door.

He entered the room carefully, holding up the bag of Chinese food he brought in with him. "I come baring gifts,"

"Is that Chinese food?" She asked, sitting up on the edge of the bed and putting her glasses back onto the bedside cabinet

"Yeah, it's your favourite… I even picked all the peas out of the rice with a toothpick,"

"Well whoop-de-doo," She sang sarcastically. "Chinese food makes everything all right!"

"Jo…"

"Do you honestly think that you can walk in here with a bag of Chinese food and make everything alright?" she asked him, crossing her arms and glaring at him. "Because it doesn't!"

"I know," he responded, walking closer to her and crouching in front of her, resting his hands on her knees. "I just thought that you would like some Chinese?"

"I already ate," she said stonily, lying on the bed in the dark. "I had a big lunch,"

"I love you," he said softly, sitting beside her on the bed and stroking her hair. "I mean… you know I love you Jo,"

"Yeah, I know…. Now is that all you came for because I don't really want to talk to you right now,"

"Will you at least listen to me?"

"Right now?" She asked, sitting up and moving away from him. "Right now if I speak to you I'll say some things I don't really mean so I don't think it's a good idea,"

"Jo…"

"I just think its best if you leave me alone Pace," she told him. "We'll talk in the morning,"

"I want to talk now,"

"Well I don't," she told him sternly. "So go downstairs and stay there,"

"You're chucking me out of my own bed?"

"Too right,"

"But…"

"Either you sleep downstairs or I leave and if I leave I might not come back," she said sadly, climbing underneath the covers, facing the window away from him.

"Communication is the key to a good marriage Jo…"

"Well communicate this?" she said, sitting up and glaring at him through the dark room. "Get out,"

Sighing heavily Pacey stood up and walked towards the door, when her voice called him back.

"Pace?" she whispered from under the covers.

"Yeah?"

"Leave the food; I'm starving,"

"Okay," Pacey sighed, setting the bag down on the chair beside the bed, kissing her forehead before walking out of the room and closing the door after him. Joey turned and watched him close the door, missing him as soon as he left. She lay back in her empty bed, covering her face with her hands.

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"Hey," Doug said, walking down the stairs in his pyjama bottoms and approaching Pacey as he sat on the couch working on his laptop, "what are you still doing up?"

"I'm sleeping here tonight," he explained. "Joey's not really speaking to me right now,"

"Still?"

"Yeah," he sighed, closing his laptop and putting it on the coffee table. "She's not happy"

"What happened?"

"There was an incident,"

"What kind of incident?" Doug asked, sitting beside him.

"I found a house, an amazing house. It was way out of our agreed budget so I didn't tell her about it, I just had a word to the buyer and got the price down; but it was still too high,"

"What did you do?" Doug asked, putting his hand over his eyes. "How did you screw up this time?"

"I sold some stock, I released my savings and I put in an offer…"

"Let me just take a wild guess here," Doug said, turning to face him on the couch. "You did all of this without telling Joey and when she found out the price and the fact you put in an offer she went mad?"

"She went completely apeshit," Pacey sighed. "I knew she would be mad, I just didn't think she would be so mad. She told me that I wasn't thinking of us in a partnership and told me that I wasn't ready to enter into a partnership with someone else. She said everything was mine and nothing was hers,"

"She really did go apeshit,"

"Yeah,"

"This reminds me of a fight jack and I had one time," Doug explained. "When I didn't want to come out and he was already out we had this huge fight; he said that I wasn't thinking as a team,"

"What did you do?"

"I came out,"

"Yeah this doesn't exactly apply in this case though Douggie… I mean I can't undo putting in an offer without her,"

"No, you can't,"

"I just wanted to make things right," he told him. "I just wanted to give her everything so that she never needed anything again in her life; I didn't want her to be pressured with all the financial stuff,"

"Maybe you should have still consulted her,"

"In hindsight that would have been a very good idea… but you know me Doug,"

"You want everything yesterday and you just get on with it,"

"Sometimes I forget the details,"

"Details are kind of important,"

"I love her," he told him, sighing heavily. "I just wanted to make her happy; I wanted her to be surprised and happy but I can't even do that. I screw up everything,"

"That's not true,"

"Oh come on Doug! I screw up everything good; I have the Midas touch in reverse,"

"Don't be so hard on yourself," Doug said, standing back up. "I'm going to bed, I suggest you get some sleep and wake up early; make her an amazing breakfast,"

"Yeah," Pacey sighed. "The way to a girl's good mood is through her stomach,"

"Night," Doug said, making his way back up the stairs and knocking on Joeys door. "You up?" he whispered.

"Who is it?" Joey's groggy voice asked from inside the door.

"It's Doug, can I come in?"

"Sure," she sighed, sitting up in bed and switching on her bedside lamp.

"Don't pretend you were asleep," he said, walking through the door and leaning on the wardrobe, crossing his arms. "I saw you sneaking around missy,"

"Fine," she sighed, putting up her hands in admission. "I admit it, I was eavesdropping,"

"Don't be too mad at him Joey; he's a good guy,"

"I know,"

"He really does love you,"

"I know that too," she said, wiping a tear from her eyes as they began to heat. "It scared me how much he loves me sometimes,"

"Love is a rare thing Joey… it's strong but so fragile at the same time. As fast as yot got it… in a blink of an eye… it can be taken away from you," he told her sitting beside her and putting his arm around to comfort her. "Don't let anyone take it away from you because you don't always get it back,"

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Tossing and turning on the couch, Pacey tried to get comfortable without the aid of a pillow or a blanket. He had considered going upstairs to their bedroom to steal a pillow and a blanket but he was a little afraid that Joey would still be awake. He sat up on the couch and looked at the clock on the wall; the time read 03:10.

Bravely, Pacey decided to risk the journey and made his way slowly up the stairs, being careful not to step on the creaky floorboards imprinted in his memory. He found himself at the top of the stairs, staring out the dark wood of his bedroom door. Placing an ear to the wood he heard nothing but silence and entered slowly. It was dark and putting a light on was going to damage his chances of leaving unnoticed so he worked by memory, finding the wardrobe and removing a blanket from the top shelf.

He glanced over to the bed and watched her as she slept; her chest moved up and down in a smooth rhythm. He walked beside her and took a pillow from his side of the bed, setting it on the end of the bed with the blanket.

He contemplated being smart and leaving the room with what he had come for but something about her sleeping state called to him. He made his way over to her and perched on the edge of the bed, taking a moment to look at her. He couldn't resist touching her hair and stroking the soft skin on her cheek for a moment. He didn't want to leave but he knew the consequences of waking up beside her.

He kissed her cheek lightly, hoping not to wake her and felt her move underneath him. Her hand touched his face in the dark and she turned her body to look at him. He could see her eyes through the dark room, looking softly at him and caressing his cheek with her hands.

She said nothing.

She brought her other hand to his cheek and pulled his face towards hers slowly, entrapping hhs lips in a soft and unexpected kiss. After a moment he responded, kissing her lips softly, caressing her lips with his own and letting his fingers move through her hair.

She pulled away from the kiss slowly and smiled lightly at him. "I was thinking you were never going to come up for that blanket," she whispered coyly.

"I just want you to be happy,"

"And I am," she told him, caressing his face with her hands. "Right here and right now I want for nothing,"

"I'm so scared I disappoint you Jo; so scared that I can't give you everything you want or can't be who you want me to be. I don't want to fail at this because it's all I got"

"Pace," Joey whispered, sitting up and putting his arm around her, snuggling into his chest. "I want for nothing when I'm with you. Not because you give me everything but because you are everything. Nothing you can do will disappoint me. I want you to be who you are and you can't ever fail at that. I love you Pace,"

"Do you still want to marry me?" he asked coyly, taking her hand and playing with her fingers.

"That all depends,"

"On what?"

"Whether you're ready or not,"

"I'm ready," he reassured her. "I guess I just have to use my brain a little more,"

"That you do sweetheart… just tell me, why did you do it?"

"I didn't want you to worry about the financial stuff; I wanted to surprise you. You always tell me that actions speak louder than words… I was trying to do that,"

"I love you for that Pace… I love you for a whole lot of different things too but I will always love that you try to do the right thing even when it's the worst thing you can do,"

"So does this mean I'm allowed back in bed tonight?" he asked, moving towards her lips and placing a gentle kiss on them.

"I'd say that I would allow you back into bed,"

"Just so I have a heads up… are you thinking about talking some more about this whole thing?"

"After," she whispered, moving closer to him.

"After what?"

"After I show you how to let actions speak louder than words," she told him, pulling him down onto the bed with her. She kissed his lips deeply, pulling his wifebeater over his head and throwing it on the floor.


End file.
